Mad TV is an Americansketch comedy television series originally inspired by Mad magazine. The show featured animated Spy vs. Spy and Don Martin cartoon shorts as well as images of Alfred E. Neuman, although the sketch comedy rarely if ever had any relation to the magazine's content. Its first TV broadcast was on October 14, 1995. The one-hour show first-ran on Saturday nights on Fox, and was in syndication on Comedy Central. In Australia the show screens on satellite and cable TV channel The Comedy Channel and in late-night timeslots on free-to-air broadcaster the Nine Network and its affiliates.

On November 12, 2008, Fox announced that Mad TV's 14th season would be its last.[2] David Salzman said that he would be exploring the continuation of the show on another channel; possibly cable. In early 2009, the show was moved to air after Talkshow with Spike Feresten, the show that normally followed Mad TV, as a test, before being moved back. The series finale aired on May 16, 2009.[3][dead link] The show was nominated for 35 Emmy awards, winning five, and was succeeded by an unrelated animated sketch comedy series, MAD that premiered on Cartoon Network in 2010.

Contents

Format[edit]

Mad TV was taped in front of a live audience and consisted of sketches, cartoon shorts, and musical performances. Much of its comedy parodied popular television shows, movies, and music, as well as topical, political, and pop cultural humor.

History[edit]

Historical synopsis[edit]

The following are a series of links to pages which give a detailed account of the history.

Era breakdown[edit]

For a historical overview with a detail analysis of each era of Mad TV (cast members, sketches, animation, etc.) please see one of the following links below:

Recurring characters and sketches[edit]

Over the years, Mad TV amassed a large variety of recurring characters and sketches.

Home media [edit]

Warner Home Video released The Complete First Season of Mad TV in 2004. However, due to poor sales, the release of the second season was cancelled (despite a preview for it in the first season DVD). Mad TV: The Best of Seasons 8, 9, and 10 was released in 2005, featuring the most popular sketches from those seasons.

On November 5, 2012, it was announced that Shout! Factory had acquired the rights to the series.[4] They subsequently announced that they would release the second season on DVD on March 22, 2013.[5] The third season was released on June 25, 2013 and the fourth season was released on November 12, 2013.[6]

Syndication[edit]

Originally, reruns of Mad TV aired as 30-minute reruns on local TV stations, often under the banner "The Best of Mad TV". The cable channel TNN (now Spike TV) aired the first six seasons of Mad TV from 1999 to 2001. Comedy Central soon picked up the show after its syndication package of Saturday Night Live reruns was acquired by the E! Entertainment Network, and has aired 30-minute and full-hour reruns of episodes from season 1 to season 11 (though, in 2008, Comedy Central limited their reruns to episodes from seasons eight to eleven). Canada's The Comedy Network also airs Mad TV reruns (starting at season eight), but, unlike Comedy Central, The Comedy Network also includes episodes from seasons 12 and 13. As of 2010, Mad TV no longer airs on Comedy Central. In 2005, Canadian channel BiteTV began airing re-runs every weekday at 4pm.